Pages: 211-224

Burning the dead body is one of the most ancient burial rites. Cremation was widely spread during the Eurasian Bronze Age and this practice was a dominant burial ritual in many societies. In the article I will analyze cremation burials during the Ural Bronze Age (18th — 10—9th centuries cal. BC) discovered in the Srubnaya, Alakul’ and following Latest Bronze Age sites. These societies cremated separate individuals although the inhumation rite dominated. This paper has the main purpose — to examine possible determinants of such selectivity. As a result, it was established that age, gender and horizontal social position had a great influence on selection of the way of interment. Vertical status probably was less important. Every burial could be determined by different reasons that can explain their variability.

Keywords: South Urals, Bronze Age, cremation, gender, age, social status

Information about author:

Natalia Berseneva (Chelyabinsk, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Institute of History and Archeology, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Sofia Kovalevskaya St., 16, Yekaterinburg, 620990, Russian Federation; South Ural State University, Scientific-educational Center of Eurasian Investigations.  Lenin Ave., 76, Chelyabinsk, 454080, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]